Pantethine promotes healthy lipid and cholesterol metabolism, study shows
Highlights
- Systematic review of 28 clinical trials
- Median pantethine supplementation dosage is 900 mg/day (300 mg, three times daily)
- Significant improvements in lipid balance and cholesterol metabolism
- Treatment well tolerated
Summary
This systematic review of 28 clinical trials with a total of 646 hyperlipidemic subjects indicates pantethine is effective and well tolerated for the treatment of high blood lipids. The average study included 22 subjects, average age 53 years, and lasted 13 weeks. The median dosage of pantethine was 900 mg/day with a range of 600 to 1,200 mg/day. The most common dosage was 300 mg, three times daily. Results indicate that, by month 4, all parameters except HDL cholesterol were significantly improved (see Table 1).
Treatment was well tolerated with an adverse event rate (AER) of 1.4 per 100 subjects, mostly mild gastrointestinal (GI) complaints.
These findings suggests that pantethine offers an effective, well-tolerated therapeutic option for treating patients with total cholesterol levels greater than 200 mg/dL and/or triglyceride levels greater than 150 mg/dL.
Table 1. Average Change in Blood Lipids (Baseline to Month 4) |
||||
Parameter |
Month 1 |
Month 2 |
Month 3 |
Month 4 |
Total Cholesterol |
-8.7% |
-11.6% |
-12.6% |
-15.1% |
LDL Cholesterol |
-10.4% |
-15.2% |
-17.7% |
-20.1% |
HDL Cholesterol |
+6.1% |
+7.8% |
+10.7% |
+8.4%* |
Triglycerides |
-14.2% |
-15.8% |
-23.7% |
-32.9% |
*Not a significant change. |